[9838] in APO News
APO: Uses of the word Black...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mandi Holmes)
Tue Feb 13 16:54:35 2007
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:54:19 -0500 (EST)
From: Mandi Holmes <holmesmd@MIT.EDU>
To: apo-news@MIT.EDU
Colloquially, black is sometimes used with a negative connotation. The
reasons for this are various, but the most widely accepted explanations
are that night is experienced by humans as negative and dangerous. A
secondary reason is that stains are most visible as dark additions to pale
materials. In traditional class-based Western cultures "pale" skin
indicated genteel domestic or intellectual indoor-work as opposed to rough
outdoor labor in the fields. Aspects of this black/white opposition are
not unique to the West, as, for example in the Indian varna system and in
Japanese Geisha makeup.
# In English heraldry, black means darkness, doubt, ignorance, and
uncertainty.
# Black is often a color of mourning. Historically, widows and widowers
were often expected to wear black.
# Black comedy is a form of comedy dealing with morbid and serious topics.
# Black magic is an evil form of magic, often connected with death.
# A "black day" (or week or month), in these cultures, would refer to a
sad or tragic time. The Romans already marked fasti days with white stones
and nefasti days with black.
* E.g., Black Tuesday, stock market crash on October 29, 1929 which is
the start of the Great Depression.
* Black Thursday, stock market downturn on October 24, 1929
* Black Monday, stock market crash on October 19, 1987.
* the Black September in Jordan refers to a month in which thousands
were killed.
* Black July killing of the Tamil population by the Sinhalese
government
* Black Spring (Printemps noir) refers to the events of spring 2001 in
the Berber region of Kabylia (Algeria), when the police shot and
killed more than 100 people.
* Black Wednesday caused Britain to pull out of the European Exchange
Rate Mechanism.
* Black Friday, various tragic events. Also the day after
Thanksgiving, the official start to the US holiday shopping season,
though in this latter case it may be construed as a positive thing.
* Black Morbid, usually on February 14th, is a celebration of all
things dark, black and macabre; an alternative to the expensive,
pointless and pink Hallmark created holiday known as Valentine's
Day (not to be confused with V-day, which also occurs on the 14th)
If it's in wikipedia it has to be awesome!*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Black Morbid
8pm**, Office
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Not actually in wikipedia, but will be awesome anyway
**8pm or after Exec ends, whichever comes first
